Come Together
by Hina Kariachi Hakubi
Summary: The effects of the Big Bang were far reaching, sometimes slow-moving, and heroes come in groups.


It was seven weeks after the Big Bang when things got weird…er. Really that was most shocking part- that after a bunch of people got melted in a chemical explosion, and a load of other people got superpowers in the same explosion, _and_ her friends started ditching her at random intervals, _and_ she almost got eaten by a giant amoeba, there was still something that made Freida go 'this is weird'.

"This is too fucking weird."

Okay, 'too fucking weird', still. She was sat on her roof, where she had been- not stuck per say, but definitely not in a position to come down- for about an hour, watching the leaves in her yard go back and forth from one side to the other. The constant shifting of the wind would've been weird enough on its own, out here by the Lakes wind tended to change direction often but this was just ridiculous, but it was following _her lead_. Frieda moved her hand this way, the wind blew in that direction, she moved it the other way, the wind shifted. She swirled her hand around in front of her like she was stirring something? The wind turned into a small twister that sucked in the leaves and left them all piled in one spot.

If she'd known she could get the yard cleaned up that easily she wouldn't have made the gesture to the sky that'd landed her on the roof in the first place. She supposed that theoretically she'd be able to use the same windy powers she was using on the leaves (and really, when had these shown up? why? when and why?) to get back down, but she wasn't sure that she trusted it. After all, the worst-case scenario was that they stopped working while she was in the air and she plummeted, while if she stayed here eventually her parents would come home and get out the ladder. Then she'd have to come up with an explanation for why she was up there though.

Truly a lose-lose situation.

* * *

Her parents totally bought 'I wanted to clean the gutters, but I couldn't find the ladder, so I climbed the walnut tree'. They'd looked at her like she was a moron, and she was never going to be allowed to live this down, but they bought it.

* * *

As she practiced with her powers (in private, of course, ever since the Big Bang there were Opinions about anyone in Dakota who had superpowers and wasn't Static) Freida contemplated her options. She wanted to help people, she already worked hard trying to better the world and keep people informed of what went on around them, and with these new powers of hers, she could do so much _more_. The idea of becoming a superhero, like Static, was tempting. Dakota had so much shit going on, so many Bang Babies causing trouble, and she could _do something_ about it.

It took her a week of thinking, weighing pros and cons ("Pro- help people. Con- I do not have the kind've time you need for this.") before she came to a decision.

Another week, forty dollars' worth of black and amaranth fabric, a handful of sailor fuku patterns, and way too many failed attempts at using her mother's sewing machine later- Hurricane was born.

* * *

Hurricane's first attempt at stopping crime went surprisingly well. It turned out that the sort've people who rob convenience stores are also the type to get freaked out when doors suddenly slam open and a gust of wind drags them outside and drops them at the feet of somebody in thigh-high heels. They hadn't known what hit them and when they'd tried to bolt she'd easily been able to sweep them into the air and hold them there until the police arrived.

The second was a little harder. That time the man was in an alley and much more level-headed. Hurricane had drug him away from the woman he'd been threatening and rather than spook and run he had instead decided his best bet was to open fire. Still, she'd managed to come away unharmed- the wind had carried her safely into the air in a breath and the gales she'd called down had made it nearly impossible for him to aim, right up until they ripped the gun clean from his hands. After that it had, again, purely been a matter of keeping him in one spot a few feet off the ground until law enforcement could come get him.

Annoyingly enough the first criminal to give her trouble was Hotstreak. It turned out, to their mutual aggravation, that they were stuck in a stalemate of sorts. Hurricane couldn't get any real control over the situation, his own flight making her tendency to lock people in the air pointless and his fires too intense for her to put out without risking damaging the buildings around them. On the plus side, he couldn't get any control either, as she could just blow his attacks right back at him. They spent a good twenty minutes circling each other in the air, volleyballing fireballs, before they both had to stop and breathe, glaring at each other across the airspace over a Burger Fool.

Thankfully Static had shown up at about that point, turning the tide in her favor. Working together they'd been able to take Hotstreak down and turn him over to the authorities with less trouble than either of them seemed to have expected.

* * *

"So, when did you plan on telling me about the whole 'superhero' thing?" Eyes blowing wide, Freida's gaze shot up from her burger. Daisy was settling into the seat across from her, knowing smile on her face.

"How-?"

"Five times you've gotten annoyed with someone only for a sudden gust of wind to blow their stuff everywhere." She popped a few fries into her mouth, chewed, and swallowed. "Plus, I saw your costume last time I was over, and you don't seem like _half_ the cosplay nerd the boys are." After a second or two staring at her friend, Freida sighed.

"Okay, I'm a superhero, happy?" Daisy snatched a few more of her fries.

"Nope. From now on, I'm helping you out." Freida blinked, eyes still wide.

"Helping me out?" Daisy's smile broadened.

"Well it's not like I can just let you go it alone."

* * *

Daisy's basement turned out to make a pretty good base of operations. Her parents had long ago turned it over to her and her projects, and it had its own entrance from the backyard. Within a few days they had a tracker in Freida's costume, access to police records and radio, and programs set to alert them to any strange sightings or occurrences around the city.

It wasn't the Justice League Headquarters or anything, but a damn fine job for a pair of high school students.

* * *

For Daisy, her power reveal was a little bit more of a close call. It was five months or so after the Big Bang when she woke up feeling and looking absolutely miserable. Between helping Freida, her school work, and her own personal projects, she wasn't getting near enough sleep and she could feel it, a tired ache down among her bones. On top of that, her hair was refusing to cooperate, the bags under her eyes were dark enough to draw in light like a black hole, and she had too many zits to even think about.

In a fit of teenage melodrama, she had wished with all her heart that she could just disappear.

Alas, life doesn't stop for the tired or those with bad hair, and so she'd gathered her things together and headed off to school where, nothing had happened. Not the normal nothing, the 'nothing interesting', but, isolated nothing. Nobody so much as looked at her all morning. Nobody said hello. The teachers didn't call on her. It was like she wasn't even there. Just an empty patch of air threading its way through the halls and taking up her seat. Easily one of the creepiest experiences of her life. Come lunch she'd found herself heading for one of the lesser-used bathrooms, wanting to take some time to calm herself down, to relax. Went in, splashed some water on her face, looked up

There was nothing in the mirror.

Good news, the sight shocked her right back into visibility. Bad news, she hadn't been visible all damn morning.

"That was too fucked up!"

* * *

"Where were you all morning?"

"Invisible, apparently."

"…huh."

* * *

That Saturday Daisy and Freida hopped a bus to the outskirts of town, where they could experiment with their powers without risking any company. Once you got out of the cities populations tapered off quick and by nine they were well out of the way of anybody who might see them or give them trouble.

They were methodical in their investigation, Freida hovering around in the air taking notes as Daisy first worked on winking herself in and out of view, and then began trying to do other things. She couldn't float or hover. No ghosting through things. Unsurprisingly no possessing stuff either. Nor, it seemed, astral projecting, or shield generating. Then Daisy'd stepped into a beam of light and that had set off the most impressive lightshow either of them had seen outside of a rock concert.

Of course, focus went immediately there. Could she do that on purpose? Tests said yes. Could she do it without reflected light? If she tried. Could she _generate_ light? To Freida's amusement, yes there too. ("My bestfriend's a flashlight." "Shut up.") The best part though, was when they were testing whether she could control the intensity of the light (yes) and discovered she could focus it into lasers.

Actual lasers.

That was going to be _so awesome_.

* * *

Of course, this meant Daisy was going to start helping out in the field, she had fucking _lasers_ now. What person wouldn't use that new ability to help their friend, especially if it meant saving the day? Especially if it meant you got to dress up.

Freida had taken this calling to superheroing as her chance to live childhood dreams of being a Sailor Scout, with a costume that was probably only two steps away from copyright infringement and the addition of some black leggings to protect her modesty. Daisy headed in a similar direction, recognizing an excuse to make herself up like Cardcaptor Sakura. One flowy purple dress, complete with ribbons, and a pair of nice yet functional boots later, all laden down with as much sparkle as possible (it served a functional purpose, how awesome was that?) and Ultraviolet was ready to go.

* * *

"'Ultraviolet'. Of course, because nerds of a feather."

* * *

Ultraviolet's first few times out fighting crime went pretty well. Temporarily blind a robber here. Disorient an aggressive drunk there. She couldn't use her light powers and go invisible at the same time, unfortunately, but both came very much in handy. She could fight _and_ sneak with the best of them out there, it was great. Bang Babies gave her a little more trouble than people without powers- they tended to be faster, more durable, and somehow seemed to have better access to eye protection- but between herself and Hurricane they could easily handle things as well as Static could.

Then they'd gone up against the Meta Breed. It's been going, mostly well. Ultraviolet was pretty much the anti-Ebon, and Hurricane countered Talon beautifully, it was just Shiv that was a pain in the ass. The gang was spread out just enough for Hurricane to have to take her focus off Talon to handle him, and Ultraviolet was stuck on the ground with him. Worse, exposure to his own powers seemed to have made him less susceptible to her own than most people. Not that they couldn't have eventually gotten everything managed, but then…

* * *

Sharon didn't get a power reveal, hers built up slowly over time. At least at first. She could levitate a pencil. Weird, but cool. She could drag a book off the shelf and across the room into her hand. She was Matilda! She could walk on walls, apparently, let's not do that again, please thank you.

Then one day, at around the same time Daisy was learning she wasn't normal any longer, she been internally raging about how maybe if she put everything on the fucking ceiling and out of the way one of the men in the house would finally deign to pick up a damn broom, and before she knew it there everything was, on the ceiling. Including her. And the damn broom.

The family had ended up with take-out for dinner because after cleaning up the resulting mess like hell she was cooking.

* * *

Becoming a superhero was in the cards from the moment she realized just how great a jump in power she'd experienced. It was one of those traits people were always surprised to learn she shared with her brother, the feeling that she'd have made an amazing superhero if she'd had the powers or tech for it, the knowledge that she would've gone that route given the opportunity. That was just the sort've person she was. But she was also a grown woman, an adult who knew well enough that diving into the fray without proper preparation could be disastrous, especially when she was relearning the boundaries of her powers. Instead she'd set to practicing in her spare time, studying up on the various criminals of Dakota, taking self defense courses at the community center. Preparing.

Unfortunately, the best laid plans of mice and men…

She hadn't expected to find herself smackdab at the edge of a fight between Hurricane, Ultraviolet, and the Meta Breed. Really, she hadn't. Still, she knew she would need any information she could glean later, and so had stuck around to watch from what was hopefully a safe distance.

They'd been holding their own surprisingly well. Talon wasn't built to withstand high winds, and the roar of them stole away a good amount of her voice's potency, making her much less of a threat when Hurricane was on the job. And Ultraviolet, the light she was giving of, the _lasers_ she was firing, were practically making swiss cheese out of Ebon. But, there were three criminals there, not two, and Shiv was making himself a slippery little nuisance for the heroes, working to distract Ultraviolet from Ebon. It was when he came forward while her back was turned, aiming a blow somewhere around her kidneys, that Sharon couldn't stop herself jumping into action.

Note, she had been attempting to repel _Shiv_ , not _everything_. What happened was she ended up alone in a circle of empty space, each and every item in a forty-foot radius that hadn't been nailed down having been sent flying off. She at least had the decency to be sheepish about this fact (and to panic internally, because holy fuck she wasn't exactly wearing a disguise) for about a second and a half before steeling herself and leveling her harshest glare at each of the Meta Breed.

Either her glare, her powers, or the fact the numbers were now even apparently got through to Ebon that this wasn't a good place to be, because patches of black shadow opened under himself and his gang, dragging them away as the heroes shook themselves off and got back to their feet. Both girls were staring at her like she had two heads.

" _Sharon_?!" That voice was too familiar, and the hair, and build-

"Freida Goren, what do you think you're doing?!"

"Helping protect the city!" Sharon paid the stubborn tone no mind, still choking on the idea that Hurricane was a kid she'd known since her brother was still small enough for her to pick up. She whirled to face Ultraviolet, who at least was good enough to look like she was in trouble.

"And you-"

"Daisy." Daisy. Was Virgil's entire social group out fighting violent criminals!? Was that what was happening here? Letting out a ragged breath, Sharon dropped her head into one hand and began massaging her temples.

"Bad enough Virgil and Richie are running off all hours of the day and night, now I have to worry about you two too…"

* * *

After that, of course she wasn't going to let them go running around fighting crime without adult supervision. But, first things first, she enrolled them both in the community center's self-defense classes. In exchange, they helped her practice with her powers in a safe and controlled environment.

* * *

For over a month Sharon refused to let the girls help her get an outfit together. She threw something together, accepted a mask 'for now', and ran around in something that didn't look quite professional until _finally_ -

"Oh my god, tell me you didn't actually commission _leather_ _armor_ for your costume." Sharon just smirked, spreading her arms and twisting her body to better show off her superhero outfit. She'd gone for a knee length skirt and tall boots, long sleeves, leather greaves, and a mask to match, all in rich browns and golds. It even tied into her hairdo, braided edgings mimicking the braided bun she'd begun keeping her hair in.

Daisy was seriously considering following her lead there. Freida could fly out of reach, and Sharon was getting better at precision use of her powers, keeping people at arm's length, but a simple pair of sunglasses could cause her trouble and she was getting real tired of people trying to use her hair as a handle.

"It was way more than I'd planned to spend," Sharon explained, openly proud of herself and given how impressive she looked she'd earned it, "but if I'm going to be a superhero I'm totally Wonderwomaning it up."

* * *

"You know what, girls?"

"What?"

"We totally need a team name."

"No."

"That could be cool."

"I vote 'Earth, Wind, and Fire'."

"…"

"…Daisy, you're closer, smack her for me."


End file.
